Operating method for a rotary engine and a rotary internal combustion engine

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to propulsion engineering and particularly to methods of operation of rotary internal-combustion engines and their structures.  
     The problem solved by the invention is improving fuel efficiency and ecological compatibility, as well as providing the ability to set advance ignition, increasing the rotation frequency of a working shaft and decreasing its vibration, and making the manufacture of such an engine more cost effective.  
     This problem is solved due to that the compression chamber is moved outside the working chamber and in relation to this chamber from the moment when compression of combustible mixture ends through the discharge of combustion materials into the working chamber. The rotary engine working according to this scheme comprises rotors mounted in it to move the compression chamber outside the working chamber and in relation to this chamber, the working chamber having a screen separating the intake port from the exhaust port. Furthermore, the rotary internal-combustion engine may have several combustion chambers for one working chamber, as well as several working chambers for one combustion chamber. At the same time, the compression chambers may be made connectable with each other. The working chambers may be also formed connectable with each other.  
     Due to this arrangement one achieves more efficient application of active forces (due to the pressure from combustion materials within the combustible mixture) to a working shaft through a rotor.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The invention relates to propulsion engineering and particularlyto methods of operation of rotary internal-combustion engines and theirstructures.

2. PRIOR ART

[0002] U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,111, F02B 53/08, 1976 discloses a method ofoperation of a rotary internal-combustion engine comprised of two rotorsprovided with two sliding blades forming together with flanges of slidevalves a charging tank and an engine chamber, characterised in that itsoperation is based on a four-stroke cycle in which a compressed andready for ignition combustible mixture is cross-injected between thecharging tank of the first cylinder and the engine chamber of the secondcylinder after a compression stroke.

[0003] A disadvantage of such engine is that injection of compressedcombustible mixture from the charging tank to the engine chamber lowersefficiency of the compression stroke. Additionally, inability to setadvance ignition at higher rotation results in fuel inefficiency andpoor ecological compatibility. This also lowers rotation frequency of anengine working shaft.

[0004] The closest prior art for the present invention is constituted bya rotary internal-combustion engine which comprises two cylinderssharing the same axis and including two off-centre rotors with fourradial sliding blades each of which has two slots accommodating the endsof stay-spring rods (U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,550, class F02B 53/08, 1975).

[0005] This solution is disadvantageous in that unilateral dislocationof a rotor from an axis causes enhanced vibration in an engine due tosliding rotor blades. Furthermore, inability to set advance ignition athigher rotation results in fuel inefficiency and lowering ecologicalcompatibility. This also lowers rotation frequency of the working shaftin an engine.

3. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The problems solved by the present invention are improving fuelefficiency and ecological compatibility of an engine, providing it withthe ability to set advance ignition, increasing the rotation frequencyof a working shaft and decreasing its vibration, as well as making themanufacturing of such engine more cost effective.

[0007] The said problem is solved due to a method of operation of arotary internal-combustion engine which includes feeding components ofcombustible mixture in a compression chamber and a working chamber,their compression and ejection to the compression chamber, ignition andcombustion of combustible mixture yielding combustion materials furtherdirected in the working chamber, rotation of a rotor connected to aworking shaft by combustion materials which are afterwards dischargedfrom the working chamber, in which the compression chamber is movedoutside the working chamber and in relation to this chamber from themoment when compression of the combustible mixture ends through thedischarge of combustion materials into the working chamber. The saidproblem is also solved in a rotary internal-combustion engine comprisedof a housing closed with lids and provided with intake and exhaustports, wherein rotors are mounted in the housing and are gasketedagainst the walls of the housing, its lids and between each other, thusforming with them operational and compression chambers, the rotors beingmounted to move the compression chamber outside the working chamber andin relation to this chamber, the working chamber having a screenseparating the intake port from the exhaust port. Furthermore, therotary internal-combustion engine may have several combustion chambersfor one working chamber, as well as several working chambers for onecombustion chamber. At the same time, the compression chambers may bemade connectable with each other. The working chambers may be alsoformed connectable with each other.

[0008] Due to these features of the method of operation of a rotaryengine and the rotary internal-combustion engine of the invention, inparticular due to moving the compression chamber outside the workingchamber and in relation to this chamber by the rotors, one may achievemore efficient application of active forces (due to the pressure fromcombustion materials within the combustible mixture) to a rotor mountedon an engine shaft.

4. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] On the accompanying drawings:

[0010]FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show a cross-section of the engine according tothe invention;

[0011]FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal section of the engine;

[0012]FIG. 4 shows a cross-section of the engine with two compressionchambers for one working chamber;

[0013]FIG. 5 shows a cross-section of the engine having threecompression chambers for one working chamber and two working chambersfor one compression chamber;

[0014]FIG. 6 shows a cross-section of the engine with a non-cylindricalchamber of the housing which accommodates a rotor with sliding bladesmoving reciprocally in the slots of the rotor upon its movement.

[0015]FIG. 7 shows a cross-section of the engine having the screen inthe form of a spring-loaded plate;

[0016]FIG. 8 shows a cross-section of the engine with the screen in theform of an additional rotor forming an additional compression chamberconnectable to the adjacent main compression chamber and an additionalworking chamber connectable to the adjacent main working chamber.

5. EMBODIMENTS

[0017] The rotary internal-combustion engine according to the inventioncomprises a housing 1 where rotors 2 and 3 are mounted in its chambers.The housing is provided with an intake port 4 and an exhaust port 5. Thehousing of the engine is also closed with lids 6 on which bearings 7 ofthe rotors are mounted co-axially with the chambers of the housing. Therotor 3 is connected with the working shaft 8 of the engine. The rotorscomprise spring-loaded blades 9 and are connected with each otherthrough the transmission 10 (for example, gear-type transmission)providing interrelated rotation of the rotors. The blades 9 may beequipped with the counter-loads 11 (FIG. 3) in order to reduce theirpressing toward the housing of the engine by centrifugal forces duringthe operation of the engine. The compression chamber 12 holds a fuelinjector or igniter plug 13. The screen may be made as a spring-loadedplate 15 (FIG. 7), as a gaseous (air) barrier 16 (FIG. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 inengines with pressurisation) or as an additional rotor 17 (FIG. 8). Thespring-loaded blades 9 serve as gaskets between the rotors, housing andlids of the engine. These blades can not perform reciprocal movement inslots of rotors rotating within cylindrical chambers of engine housing(FIG. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8). However, the blades 9 can move reciprocally inslots of the rotors when the latter rotate in non-cylindrical chambersof the housing (FIG. 6), which provides increased degree of compression,increased capacity and torque as compared with an engine in which bladescan not move reciprocally. The structures of the engine according to theinvention may be provided with one (FIG. 1, 2, 6, 7, 8) and severalcompression chambers (FIG. 4, 5) for one working chamber. The engine(FIG. 8) may also have an additional compression chamber 18 (formed bythe additional rotor 17) and a working chamber 19, with the compressionchamber 18 being connectable to the compression chamber 12, and theworking chamber 19 being connectable to the working chamber 14. Suchdesign of the engine (FIG. 8) allows an increase in the degree ofcompression and in fuel-efficiency.

[0018] The engine is also provided with a fuel system, ignition system,lubricating system, cooling system and gaseous distribution system.

[0019] The operation of the engine is described below.

[0020] On start-up, the rotors 2 and 3 start rotating thus forming andmoving the compression chamber 12 and the working chamber 14. Componentsof combustible mixture are injected in chamber A (with its volume beingincreased, FIG. 2) through the intake port 4 and further compressed tothe volume of the compression chamber 12. Afterwards the chamber 12moves outside the working chamber 14 and in relation to this chamber,and ignition takes place in this chamber (in advance, if necessary), andthe combustible mixture combusts yielding combustion materials which arefurther directed in the working chamber 14 and which rotate the rotor 3connected to the working shaft 8. In the engine shown on FIG. 8,components of combustible mixture are first injected and compressed inthe compression chamber 18 and are then ejected to the compressionchamber 12. Combustion materials are directed from the working chamber14 to the working chamber 19, where they rotate the rotor 3 with theworking shaft 8 of the engine, with their subsequent dischargecombustion from the engine through the exhaust port 5.

[0021] The four-stroke operational cycle of the rotary engine isrepeated.

[0022] The use of the present invention allows to make the engine morecost-effective and ecologically compatible, increase rotation frequencyof the working shaft of this engine due to providing advance ignition,which does not cause negative torque in the engine, and to reducevibration of the engine due to placing its rotors co-axially withchambers in the housing where they are mounted, as well as to make themanufacture of such an engine more cost-effective due to the simplicityof its design.

1. A method of operation of a rotary internal-combustion engine whichincludes feeding components of combustible mixture in a compressionchamber and a working chamber, their compression and ejection to thecompression chamber, ignition and combustion of combustible mixtureyielding combustion materials further directed in the working chamber,rotation of a rotor connected to a working shaft by combustion materialswhich are afterwards discharged from the working chamber, characterisedin that the compression chamber is moved outside the working chamber andin relation to this chamber from the moment when compression ofcombustible mixture ends through the discharge of combustion materialsinto the working chamber.
 2. A rotary internal-combustion enginecomprising a housing closed with lids and provided with an intake portand exhaust port, wherein rotors are mounted in the housing and aregasketed against the walls of the housing, its lids and between eachother, thus forming with them operational and compression chambers,characterised in that the rotors are mounted to move the compressionchamber outside the working chamber and in relation to this chamber, theworking chamber having a screen separating the intake port from theexhaust port.
 3. A rotary internal-combustion engine according to claim2, characterised in that it has several compression chambers for oneworking chamber.
 4. A rotary internal-combustion engine according toclaim 2, characterised in that it has several working chambers for onecompression chamber.
 5. A rotary internal-combustion engine according toclaim 2, characterised in that the screen is made in the form of anadditional rotor, while the chamber formed by the walls of the rotor,housing and lids serves as an additional compression chamber connectedto the main compression chamber.